(T25.79c2-80a1 [fasc.3])
Shaariputra went into the city to make his alms rounds and
having obtained his food sat down against a wall to eat. At this time,
a Brahmacari.nii named "Pure Eyes" (Shucimukhii) came along and, seeing
Shaariputra, asked him, "Shrama.na, are you eating?"
He replied, "Yes, I'm eating."
Pure Eyes asked, "Do you shrama.nas eat with your attention
directed downwards?"
He replied, "No, Sister."
"Do you eat with your attention directed upwards?"
"No."
"With your attention directed to the [four] directions?"
"No."
"With your attention directed to the four midpoints?"
"No."
Pure Eyes said, "There are four approaches to gaining one's
sustenance. I asked you about them and you said 'no' in every case. I
don't understand. You ought to explain."
Shaariputra said, "There are those who, having left the home
life, blend herbs, sow grains, plant trees, or engage in other such
forms of impure means of sustaining one's life. These methods are
referred to as eating with one's attention directed downwards.
"There are those who, having left the home life, carry out
observations of the stars, the constellations, the sun, the moon, the
wind, the rain, thunder and lightning, and thunderbolts, carrying on
this impure means of sustaining one's life. These methods are referred
to as eating with one's attention directed upwards.
"There are those who have left the home life who manipulate and
flatter the noble and powerful, who deliver messages for them in all
four directions, or who employ clever words and covetousness, these
impure means of sustaining one's life. These methods are referred to as
eating with one's attention directed in all directions.
"There are those who, having left the home life, study all
manner of incantational techniques, or who practice divination and
calculation of auspiciousness and inauspiciousness and all manner of
impure means such as these for sustaining their lives. These methods
are referred to as eating with one's attention focused on the midpoints.
Sister, I do not fall into any of these four types of impure means of
sustaining one's life. I employ the pure alms round to sustain this
life."
At this time, when Pure Eyes had heard the explanation of the
dharma of pure eating, she was delighted and developed faith and
understanding. Shaariputra, because he had spoken Dharma for her,
gained the way of the Srota- aapanna.

End Notes:

Reaching an accurate Buddhist understanding of this idea may
require a cultural and conceptual leap for some. Many of us are hard
pressed not to wince and look askance at apparently able- bodied people
who prefer alms to the wage- earner's nine- to- five, cash- on- the-
barrelhead mode of existence. A few clues which may be helpful:
a) The Buddha stated repeatedly and in no uncertain terms that
due to the great power of the karmic law of cause- and- effect, the
layperson who willingly and happily provides assistance to the
renunciate monastic (not to be confused with non-celibate lay priests)
gains an incredible reward of merit whereby blessings and bliss ensue in
this and future lives. This being the case, the earnestly rigorous and
renunciate monastic constitutes what is referred to as a "field of
blessings" whose availability to accept such assistance is a
particularly potent resource to the layperson desirous of accumulating
merit for future worldly and spiritual benefit;
b) Involvement in the exigencies of pursuing a livelihood in the
normal sense of the term was forbidden for monastics by the Buddha. It
was held to be a great abyss which jeopardizes the monastic's ability to
retain fulltime focus on the Path;
c) Were the monastic to dilute his spiritual cultivation with
involvement in a "livelihood," his potency as a "field of merit" would
diminish commensurately while his clarity, perspective and effectiveness
as a source of spiritual guidance to the laity would be seriously
compromised;
d) A closer examination of orthodox monastic life reveals that
it constitutes the most extremely challenging and unremittingly
demanding of jobs. When one drops the rather mean and narrow criteria
of the fiscal yardstick it becomes much more difficult to maintain the
opinion that the monastic life doesn't constitute real and honest work.

Subhadra, the Brahmacarin

(T25.80c4-81a11 [fasc.3])
Subhadra, the brahmacaarin was one hundred and twenty years old
and had obtained the five superknowledges. He dwelt on the shore of
Lake Anavatapta. One night, in a dream, he saw everyone blinded and
standing naked in the dark. The sun fell from the sky, the earth was
shattered, and the great oceans had all dried up. A great wind arose
and blew away Mt. Sumeru. When he woke up he was frightened and
thought, "Why was it like this? Is my life about to end or is the lord
of heaven and earth about to fall? He was bewildered and unable to
understand it. Because he had had this terrible dream, a god who had
been his spiritual guide in a former life descended from above and said
to Subhadra, "Don't be frightened. There is a man possessed of
omniscience known as the Buddha, who, tomorrow, in the middle of the
night, will enter the nirvana without residue. Therefore your dream was
not to do with you."
Then, the next day Subhadra went to the forest in the state of
Ku"sinagara and saw Ananda walking along and said to Ananda, "I have
heard that your master describes a new path to nirvana, and that this
very day, in the middle of the night, he will choose to enter
extinction. My mind is afflicted with doubts. Please, I wish to see
the Buddha that he might resolve the cause of my doubts."
Ananda replied, "The World Honored One's body is exhausted. If
you approach with difficult questions it will weary and trouble the
World Honored One."
Subhadra repeated his request until he had asked three times.
Each time Ananda replied as before. The Buddha overheard this from a
distance and ordered Ananda, "Allow Subhadra the brahmacaarin to come
forward and freely pose difficult questions. This will be my very last
conversation and my very last disciple to gain the Way."
At this time Subhadra was able to have an audience with the
Buddha. After he had greeted the World Honored One, he sat down to one
side and thought, "Although the followers of all of the externalist
traditions renounce the ties of love and affection, of wealth and
treasure, nonetheless they do not gain the Way. Only the "Srama.na
Gautama has found the Way." After he had finished this thought, he
asked the Buddha, "Here in this land of Jambudviipa, all of the six
masters say of themselves, "I am possessed of all-knowledge. Is this
talk true or not?"
At this time, the World Honored One replied with a verse,
saying:

From the time I was nineteen years of age,
I left the home life and studied the way of the Buddha.
From the time I left home until now,
It has already been more than fifty years.

Of the pure precepts, dhyaana and wisdom
The externalists possess not even a fraction.
If they do not possess even a minor fraction,
How much the less do they possess all-knowledge.

"If one does not possess the eight-fold correct path, then one
does not possess the first fruit, the second, the third, nor the fourth
fruit. If one possesses the eight-fold correct path, then one possesses
the first fruit, the second, the third, and the fourth fruit. Subhadra,
here in my Dharma, there exists the eight-fold correct path. Herein
there exists the first fruit of the Way, the second, the third, and the
fourth fruit of the Way. The dharmas of the others, the externalists,
are all empty. They have no way, no fruit, no "Srama.nas, and no
Brahmans. In this manner, in the midst of the great Assembly, I truly
roar the lion's roar."
When Subhadra the brahmacaarin heard this Dharma, he gained the
way of the arhat. He thought to himself, "I should not enter
parinirvana after the Buddha." When he had finished this thought, he
assumed the full lotus posture before the Buddha and, employing his
spiritual power, sent forth fire from within his body which incinerated
it completely, whereby he [then and there] chose to cross into
extinction.

Why Aananda was So Called

(T25.83b11-84a21 [fasc.3])
Question: What are the causes and conditions for the Venerable
Aananda receiving such a name? Was it as a result of causes and
conditions from former lives? Was it a name given to him by his father
and mother? Or was it as a result of [present life] causes and
conditions that he was given this name?
Response: It was as a result of causes and conditions from
former lives. It was also a name given to him by his father and mother.
And it was also a name stemming from [present life] causes and
conditions.
Question: What were the causes and conditions from former
lives?
Response: In a former life, Shaakyamuni Buddha was a potter
named "Great Brilliance" (Prabhaasa). At that time there was another
Buddha also known as Shaakyamuni who also had disciples named
Shaariputra, Maudgalyaayana, and Aananda. The Buddha stopped with his
disciples and spent a night at the abode of the potter.
At that time, the potter made gifts of three things: grass
sitting mats, lamps for light and rock honey chutney. He presented them
as offerings to the Buddha and the bhikshu sa'ngha and then made a vow,
saying, "In the future, May I become a buddha in a world afflicted with
ageing, sickness, death, and the five evils. May I too have the name
Shaakyamuni and may my disciples' names also be the same as these."
Because of this vow of the Buddha, Aananda is now so- named.
Additionally, in life after life Aananda made a vow, "May I be
foremost in learning among the learned disciples of Shaakyamuni Buddha
and may my name be Aananda."
Furthermore, in life after life, Aananda cultivated patience and
ridding himself of enmity. For this reason he was particularly handsome
from birth. Because those who saw him were delighted on account of his
handsomeness, his father and mother named him Aananda. These are the
past life reasons for his name.
Why did his father and mother give him this name? In the past,
there was a king of the Solar clan named "Lion Jaws". The king had four
sons. The first was named "Pure Rice". The second was named "White
Rice" . The third was named "Bushel of Rice". The fourth was named
"Sweet Dew Rice". There was a daughter named "Sweet Dew Flavor". The
Pure Rice King had two sons, the Buddha and Nanda. The White Rice king
had two sons, Badhrika and Ti.sya. The "Bushel- of- Rice King" had two
sons, Devadatta and Aananda. The Sweet Dew Rice King had two sons, ,
Mahaanaaman and Aniruddha. The daughter, "Sweet Dew" had a son named
Daanapaala.
Siddhaarta Bodhisattva gradually grew up among these people and
rejected the station of the sagely wheel- turning king. In the middle
of the night he left behind the homelife and went to the banks of the
Nairañjanaa River in the state of Uruvilvaa. For six hears he
cultivated ascetic practices.
At this time , because the pure Rice King lovingly remembered
his son he constantly sent messengers to ask after him. He desired to
know the news: "Has my son gained the way or not? Has he become ill or
has he died?"
The messengers came and addressed the king, "The Bodhisattva
only has skin and bones and ligaments holding them together. That's
all. His life force has become very fragile and weak. Whether it's
today or whether it's tomorrow is uncertain, but he will not have much
longer."
When the king heard their words, he was greatly distressed and
his thoughts were sunken in the sea of worry and affliction: "My son
not only failed to become the wheel- turning king, he was also unable to
gain buddhahood. What utterly tragic suffering that he should gain
nothing whatsoever and then die!" Thus he was afflicted with anguish,
lost in desolation and paralyzed with bewilderment.
At this time the bodhisattva abandoned the site of his ascetic
practices and partook of the many- flavored rice gruel with milk
whereupon his body was sustained. After bathing in the waters of the
Nairañjanaa he proceeded to the bodhi tree and sat beneath it on the
adamantine seat , vowing to himself, "Without breaking away from this
full- lotus posture I must succeed in realizing omniscience. If I do
not realize omniscience, I shall never get up."
At this time the king of the Maaras led a multitude followers,
eighteen ko.tis in number, to the site where the bodhisattva sat, daring
to test his attainment. On account of the power of the bodhisattva's
wisdom he utterly vanquished the demon armies. Maara was no match for
him and in making his retreat, thought to himself, "As I can't overcome
the bodhisattva, I'll go afflict his father."
He then went to the place of the Pure Rice King and intending to
deceive him, announced, "This very night, in the very last watch, your
son was finally finished." When the king heard these words, he
collapsed onto his bed, agonizing like a fish stranded on hot sand. The
king wept pitifully and then uttered a verse:

Those spurious words pronounced by Ajita,--
A propitious omen with no validation.
An auspicious entitlement assuring achievements,--
But nothing whatsoever was finally gained.

At this time the tree- spirit of the bodhi tree was in a state
of great joy and, taking heavenly mandaara flowers, went to the place of
the Pure Rice King and spoke forth a verse:

Your son has already gained the Way.
The hordes of demons have been broken and scattered.
His brilliant light is like the rising sun
Everywhere illumining the ten direction lands.

The King said, "Earlier, there was a diety who came and said,
'You're son is already finished.' Now you come and say that he has
destroyed the demons and gained the Way. These two pronouncements are
contradictory. Whose can be believed?"

The tree spirit continued, "These are true, not false words.
That diety who came earlier and who attempted to deceive you by saying,
'He's finished.' was a demon who, because he was overcome with jealousy,
came to afflict you. Today, the gods, dragons and spirits make
offerings with flowers and incense and suspend celebratory banners in
the sky. Your son's body is issueing light which illumines heaven and
earth."
When the king heard these words his mind gained liberation from
all anguish and affliction. The King declared, "Although my son forsook
the wheel- turning kingship, as he has now attained the Dharma- wheel-
turning kingship, he has certainly gained great benefit and nothing has
been lost." The King was greatly delighted.
At this time a messenger arrived from the abode of the Bushel-
of- Rice King and addressed the Pure Rice King, saying, "Your
Highness's younger brother has fathered a son."
The King was greatly delighted and said, "Today is greatly
auspicious. It is a day of rejoicing." He said to the messenger who
had come, "This boy should be named Aananda ("Rejoicing")." This is how
the name was given by the parents.
How was the giving of the name reliant upon causes and
conditions? Aananda's physique was as elegant and pure as a fine bright
mirror. One's age, one's beauty, and the appearance of one's
countenance are all reflected in the body. His body was bright and
pure. When women looked upon him they were moved to thoughts of desire.
Because of this the buddha permitted Aananda to wear his robe with the
shoulder covered. Because Aananda was able to bring delight to the
minds and eyes of those who gazed upon him he was named Aananda
("Rejoicing"). And so here the commentator offers his own words of
praise:

His face was like the pure full moon
His eyes like the blue lotus blossom
The waters of the great sea of the Buddhadharma
Flowed into the mind of Aananda.

He was able to bring to the mind and the eyes
Of those who beheld him a feeling of great joy.
All who came seeking to see the Buddha,-
He introduced with unfailing decorum.

Shaakyamuni Bodhisattva Encounters Pu.sya Buddha

(T25.87b24-c14 [fasc.4])

Question: How long does it take for the bodhisattva to be able
to plant [the karmic causes which result in] the thirty- two marks?
Answer: The very slowest is one hundred kalpas. The most rapid
is ninety- one kalpas. As a bodhisattva, Shaakkyamuni cultivated the
thirty- two marks to completion over the course of ninety- one great
kalpas. This is as described in a sutra:
Long ago, far back in the past, there was a buddha named Puya.
There lived at that time two bodhisattvas, one of whom was named
Shaakyamuni and the other of whom was named Maitreya. Pu.sya Buddha
wished to observe whether or not the mind of Shaakyamuni Bodhisattva had
reached a state of complete refinement. He then contemplated and
observed that although [Shaakyamuni's] mind was not yet completely
refined, the minds of his disciples were all thoroughly refined. On the
other hand, although the mind of Maitreya Bodhisattva was entirely
refined, still, the minds of his disciples had not yet reached complete
refinement.
At that time Pu.sya Buddha deliberated thus: "The mind of one
single person may be easily and rapidly transformed whereas it is
difficult to swiftly heal the minds of a multitude of people." After he
had deliberated in this fashion, Pu.sya Buddha wished to influence
Shaakyamuni Bodhisattva to rapidly realize buddhahood. He travelled up
onto Snow Mountain and, inside of a bejewelled cave, entered the fire
samaadhi.
At that time Shaakyamuni Bodhisattva was a non- buddhist r.si.
He climbed up the mountain to gather herbs and discovered Pu.sya Buddha
sitting in the jewelled cave absorbed in the fire samaadhi and radiating
brilliant light. When he saw [that buddha], he became delighted in mind
and, out of faith and reverence, stood on one foot, placed his palms
together and singlemindedly contemplated him. For seven days and seven
nights [he stood and contemplated like this] without blinking his eyes
and then uttered a verse in praise of the Buddha:

Up in the heavens and down below there's no one like the Buddha.
Throughout the ten directions' worlds, there are none who could
compare.
For I have seen all that there is existing in the world.
And nowhere is there anyone who ranks as peer with Buddha.

For seven days and seven nights, without blinking his eyes, he
unwaveringly contemplated the World Honored One. He was [thereby able]
to skip over nine kalpas so that after ninety- one kalpas he realized
anuttarasamyaksa.mbodhi.